Ambrose of Milan : God, indeed, never descends from any place, for he says, "I fill heaven and earth." But he seems to descend when the Word of God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." We are to do this, so that, as he himself promised, he may come together with the Father and make his abode with us. — Exposition of the Christian Faith 5.7.98 Augustine of Hippo : They were not reborn, those who were baptized by John's baptism, by which Christ himself was baptized. Rather, they were "prepared" by the ministry of a forerunner, who said, "Prepare a way for the Lord"—for him in whom alone they could be reborn. — Enchiridion 14:49 Augustine of Hippo : John [the Baptist] was filled with the Holy Spirit; and he had a baptism from heaven, not from human beings. But how long did he have it? He said, "Prepare the way for the Lord." But when the Lord was known, he himself became the way; there was no longer need for the baptism of John, by which the way was to be prepared for the Lord. — TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF John 5:15.4 Augustine of Hippo : There it is written, "a voice of one crying in the wilderness," the Word is conceived in the virgin's womb. If the voice is not the Word, it is then a loud clanging of metal. For one then would not be able to say that every word is a sound but not every sound is a word. For it is not unfitting to take "the way" as that which came up to the very heart and filled us inwardly. Indeed, the heart became his place to which he comes and remains. — SERMON 289 Caesarius of Arles : "I am the voice of one that cries out in the desert." This means, I am not the Word that was with God from the beginning and that was God, but I am rather a voice; in other words, I am a minister of the Word, in order that through me he may reach the hearing and senses of [people]. For this reason the blessed Baptist exclaimed with equal humility, "He must increase, while I must decrease." — SERMONS 217:2 Cyril of Jerusalem : While the heavenly powers rejoice, let the souls that are to be united to the spiritual bridegroom make themselves ready. For the voice is heard of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare the way of the Lord." For this is no light matter, no ordinary and indiscriminate union according to the flesh but the all-searching Spirit's election according to faith. — Catechetical Lecture 3:1 Gregory the Dialogist : "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said." You know, dearest brothers, that the only-begotten Son is called the Word of the Father, as John testifies when he says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And from your own manner of speaking you recognize that the voice sounds first, so that the word may afterward be heard. Therefore John asserts that he is the voice, because he precedes the Word. And so, going before the coming of the Lord, he is called a voice, because through his ministry the Word of the Father is heard by men. He also cries out in the wilderness, because he announces the comfort of the Redeemer to abandoned and forsaken Judea. But what he cries out he indicates when he adds: "Make straight the way of the Lord." The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when the word of truth is humbly heard. The way of the Lord is made straight to the heart when one's life is prepared according to his commandment. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 7 Gregory the Dialogist : It is well said that he sent them before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to come. For the Lord follows his preachers, because preaching comes first, and then the Lord comes to the dwelling place of our mind, when words of exhortation run ahead, and through these truth is received in the mind. For thus Isaiah says to these same preachers: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 17 Jerome : (Verse 3 onwards) The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. LXX: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God, for the Lord has spoken. When the scribes and Pharisees and Jewish leaders heard John preaching in the wilderness and baptizing with a baptism of repentance, they sent messengers to ask him if he was the Christ, or Elijah, or a prophet. And when he answered that he was none of these, they asked him again, 'Then who are you?' So that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? And he answered: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, as Isaiah the Prophet said (John 1:22-23)'. In which it should be noted that the straight paths of the Lord and the ways of our God: the filling of valleys and mountains, the humbling of hills and the correction of the wicked, and the rough places made level: and the glory of the Lord and the salvation of our God, will not be proclaimed in Jerusalem, but in the solitude of the Church, and in the deserted multitude of the nations, of which we read above (Isaiah 35:1): 'Rejoice, O desert, and let the wilderness exult, and let it blossom like the lily.' For this knowledge of God was unknown and humbled by idols, lowly in confession, exalted in pride, rough and unyielding in wrath. But after the glory of the Lord appeared, and all flesh saw the salvation of God, everything suddenly changed, and the way of the Lord was prepared, so that the glory of God would appear in the wilderness. When the Lord was baptized in the Jordan and the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and remained in him, and the voice of the Father from above was heard, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; listen to him. (Matthew 3:17). And all flesh saw the salvation of God. Which is why it was called flesh, because it did not have the Holy Spirit before. Concerning this, the Lord says: My spirit will not remain in these people, because they are flesh (Gen. VI, 3). But that flesh will see the salvation of God, of which the same Joel spoke: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and they shall prophesy (Joel. II, 28). This is not only what John proclaimed at that time, who was the precursor and forerunner of the word of God, rightly called the voice (Matth. III); but even to this day in the wilderness of the Gentiles, the teachers of the Churches cry out: that we may make straight paths and ways for God in our hearts, that we may be filled with virtues, and may be inclined with humility; that we may change what is evil into what is right, and what is rough into what is gentle: and thus we may deserve to see the glory of the Lord and the salvation of God. — Commentary on Isaiah Jerome : In that the Word has now become flesh and dwelled among us, now there will not be in any way the voice of a prophet in the desert but the voice of the archangel, preparing the way for the one coming not in the humility of the flesh but for him who is with the Father. And in those days they were going out into the desert, so as to hear the forerunner of the assumed man and to see the sand perturbed by the wind. — LETTER 119.10 John Chrysostom : Thus the prophet saith that he shall come saying, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." And he himself when he was come said, "Bring forth fruits meet for repentance," which corresponds with, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." Seest thou that both by the words of the prophet, and by his own preaching, this one thing is manifested alone; that he was come, making a way and preparing beforehand, not bestowing the gift, which was the remission, but ordering in good time the souls of such as should receive the God of all? — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Matthew 10:3 Origen of Alexandria : But this very thing, which is now set down from the old instrument, we read written in the prophet Isaiah. For there it is said: "The voice of one crying in the desert: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight". The Lord wishes to find ways in you—he who, that he may be able to enter into your souls and make his journey, prepare for him the path of which it is said: "make his paths straight". "The voice of one crying in the desert". "The voice" cries: "prepare the way"; for first "the voice" reaches the ears, then after the voice—rather, together with the voice—the word penetrates the hearing. According to this sense Christ was announced by John. Let us see, therefore, what "the voice" announces concerning the word. "Prepare", it says, "the way for the Lord". What "way for the Lord" are we to prepare? Surely not a bodily one? Or can the word of God travel by such a road? Or is the way to be prepared for the Lord within, and straight and even paths to be laid out in our heart? This is the way by which the word of God enters, which consists in the capacity of the human heart. Great is the heart of man, and spacious and capacious, if only it be clean. Do you wish to know its greatness and breadth? See how great a magnitude of divine perceptions it can contain. It itself says: "he gave me true knowledge of the things that are: to know the constitution of the world and the operations of the elements, the beginning and the end and the middle of the ages, the changes of the seasons and the transitions of the months, the circuits of the years and the positions of the stars, the natures of living creatures and the ragings of beasts, the violences of spirits and the thoughts of men, the diversities of trees and the power of roots". You see that the heart of man is not small, which can contain so much. And understand its greatness not in the quantity of the body, but in the strength of perception, which can contain so great a knowledge of the truth. But that I may also lead the simpler folk by everyday examples to believe that the heart of man is great, let us look at what follows. Whatever cities we have passed through, we have them in our mind, and the qualities and situations of the streets and the walls and the buildings are turning over in our heart. The road that we have entered upon we retain in the picture and description of memory; the sea that we have sailed we embrace in silent thought. It is no small thing, as I have said, the heart of man, which can contain so much. But if it is no small thing, containing so much, consequently in it the way of the Lord is prepared and a straight path is made, so that the word of God and wisdom may walk in it. Prepare the way for the Lord through good conduct, and by outstanding works wear smooth the path, so that the word of God may walk in you without any stumbling and may grant you the knowledge of his mysteries and of his coming: to whom is glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen. — HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF Luke 21 Origen of Alexandria : Now the way of the Lord is made straight in two ways: by contemplation, which is clarified by truth unmixed with falsehood, and by activity, which follows sound contemplation of the appropriate action to be taken, which is conformed to the correct sense of these things to be done. — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF John 6:103 Tertullian : Since even then by Isaiah it was Christ, the Word and the Spirit of the Creator who prophetically described John as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord." And [he] was about to come forth for the purpose of terminating from that point onwards the course of the law and the prophets: by their fulfillment and not their extinction. — AGAINST MARCION 4.33 Theodoret of Cyrus : The true consolation, the genuine comfort and the real deliverance from the iniquities of humankind is the incarnation of our God and Savior. Now the first who acted as herald of this event was the inspired John the Baptist. Accordingly, the prophetic text proclaims the realities that relate to him in advance, for that is what the three blessed Evangelists have taught us and that the most divine Mark has even made the prologue of his work. As for the inspired John, whom the Pharisees asked whether he himself was the Christ, he declared on his part: "I am 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord' " as the prophet Isaiah said; I am not God the Word but a voice, for it is as a herald that I am announcing God the Word, who is incarnate. Moreover, he refers to the Gentiles as the "untrodden [land]" because they have not yet received the prophetic stamp. — COMMENTARY ON Isaiah 12:40.3